REAL PEOPLE, REAL ISSUES

June 11, 2007

Google privacy 'worst on the Web'

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Google Inc.'s privacy
practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations,
according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on
how the online search leader handles personal information about its
users.In a report released Saturday, London-based Privacy
International assigned Google its lowest possible grade. The category
is reserved for companies with "comprehensive consumer surveillance and
entrenched hostility to privacy."None of the 22 other surveyed
companies -- a group that included Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL
-- sunk to that level, according to Privacy International. While
a number of other Internet companies have troubling policies, none
comes as close to Google to "achieving status as an endemic threat to
privacy," Privacy International said in an explanation of its findings. In
a statement from one of its lawyers, Google said it aggressively
protects its users' privacy and stands behind its track record. In its
most conspicuous defense of user privacy, Google last year successfully
fought a U.S. Justice Department subpoena demanding to review millions
of search requests. "We are disappointed with Privacy
International's report, which is based on numerous inaccuracies and
misunderstandings about our services," said Nicole Wong, Google's
deputy general counsel. "It's a shame that Privacy International
decided to publish its report before we had an opportunity to discuss
our privacy practices with them." SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Comments

Google privacy 'worst on the Web'

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Google Inc.'s privacy
practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations,
according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on
how the online search leader handles personal information about its
users.In a report released Saturday, London-based Privacy
International assigned Google its lowest possible grade. The category
is reserved for companies with "comprehensive consumer surveillance and
entrenched hostility to privacy."None of the 22 other surveyed
companies -- a group that included Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL
-- sunk to that level, according to Privacy International. While
a number of other Internet companies have troubling policies, none
comes as close to Google to "achieving status as an endemic threat to
privacy," Privacy International said in an explanation of its findings. In
a statement from one of its lawyers, Google said it aggressively
protects its users' privacy and stands behind its track record. In its
most conspicuous defense of user privacy, Google last year successfully
fought a U.S. Justice Department subpoena demanding to review millions
of search requests. "We are disappointed with Privacy
International's report, which is based on numerous inaccuracies and
misunderstandings about our services," said Nicole Wong, Google's
deputy general counsel. "It's a shame that Privacy International
decided to publish its report before we had an opportunity to discuss
our privacy practices with them." SOURCE OF THIS STORY

September 2012

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